Download Free France And The Arabian Gulf Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online France And The Arabian Gulf and write the review.

France has had a long-standing and historically significant relationship with the Arab World. This relationship is bolstered by the growing volume of bilateral trade between France and the GCC states. From the French perspective, the Gulf states are major partners and interlocutors, hence political dialogue remains intense at all levels. Interpersonal relations remain positive, being rooted in friendship and confidence. Furthermore, France and the Gulf states hold convergent positions on almost all regional issues. There are growing commercial flows between the GCC states and France, which mainly imports oil and gas from these states. However, a more stable partnership can be established through investment. To encourage this, a legal framework is imperative to ensure the security of assets and fair returns on investments. French security commitments manifest themselves in three ways: through support in the fight against terrorism, contributions to the defense capacities of the GCC countries and a willingness to participate in a collective system to safeguard Gulf security. Since 1995, France has entered into defense agreements with Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, and carefully monitors their implementation. Every Middle Eastern conflict is approached by France in a different way, based on the international situation and its past relations with the countries involved. Sometimes France opts to work on a bilateral basis (such as in Lebanon and Iraq), and sometimes within a multilateral framework. Nevertheless there are common attitudes and enduring principles that guide French engagement in the Middle East. French military cooperation in the GCC states is most developed with the UAE, followed by Qatar. Defense agreements concluded between France and these two Gulf states commit France to the defense of their sovereignty. In addition, regular high level military exercises and strategic exchanges take place via the joint military committees constituted under these bilateral defense agreements. Defense cooperation with the UAE, boosted to a great extent by the Offset Program, has opened up new avenues for cooperation in other economic and strategic fields. Although bilateral defense cooperation reached its apogee in the 1990s and now faces serious competition from the United States, such cooperation allowed major French industries in sectors such as water, electricity, transportation and communications, as well as health and education to export their expertise and participate in the training of local companies. The GCC has long sought to maintain and expand cooperative ties with the European Union (EU), which largely inspired its own model for regional integration. The political will to enhance EU–GCC cooperation appears to be present on both sides and is based on the recognition of common interests. Reinforced cooperation between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council is an important element in facilitating constructive exchanges on the stabilization of the Middle East, the resolution of crises and a reorientation towards a multi-polar world order. Ultimately, bilateral French–Arab cooperation to defend their respective cultures must be preceded by close cultural relations between the parties and a spirit of equality, generosity and mutual desire.
Exploring the history of the Persian Gulf from ancient times until the present day, leading authorities treat the internal history of the region and describe the role outsiders have played there. The book focuses on the unity and identity of Gulf society and how the Gulf historically has been part of a cosmopolitan Indian Ocean world.
Research completed January 1993.
This volume, although not an integrated synthesis, treats most aspects of Holocene sedimenta tion and diagenesis in the Persian Gulf, grouping 22 contributions under a single cover and in one language. Because these sediments and diagenetic minerals are comparable to those existing in many ancient sedimentary basins, their appraisal should be of value to the enlarging group of workers who interpret ancient sedimentary rocks. The essential morphological, climatic and oceanographic factors determining Holocene sedimen tation and diagenesis in the Persian Gulf are summarized in the introductory article by PURSER and SEIBOLD. These environmental controls and the overall morphology of the Persian Gulf have much in common with Shark Bay, Western Australia, described by LOGAN et al. (1970). On the other hand, the Persian Gulf is markedly different from the better known Florida and Bahamian prov inces; the floor of the Persian Gulf is gently inclined from continental shoreline to bathymetric axis (80-100 m); the Bahamian province, on the other hand, is horizontal and extremely shallow (2-10 m), with very sharply defined shelf edges surrounded by deep oceanic waters. These contrast ing architectural styles are related to different tectonic frames.
This book examines the changing image of the Arab Gulf States in the West. It addresses the question of perception in international relations and how the Arab States of the Gulf have pursued various endeavors to project themselves into Western imagination. The book chapters generate ideas on how perceptions came about and ways to improve cultural and political realities on the ground in the Arab Gulf States. Thus, it paves the way for a new area of research in the field of Gulf Studies that extends beyond traditional international relations frameworks by weaving elements of intercultural communication into the mix. Recognizing, yet extending beyond, a traditionally realist framework, which has dominated the analysis of Arab Gulf States' foreign relations with western countries, this book tackles both the materialist and the symbolic in the efforts and initiatives launched by the Arab Gulf States. Some chapters maintain a social-scientific approach about the politics of the Arab Gulf States in the West from an international relations lens. Others employ theoretical frameworks that were founded on the notion of the "encounter," with anthropological lenses and concepts of intercultural communication. In addition to the value of this academic research agenda, as such, some of the chapters also touch upon the added importance of policy-oriented input. As the Arab Gulf States actively engage with the West, the book would widely appeal to students and researchers of Gulf politics and international relations.
One of Foreign Policy's Best Five Books of 2013, chosen by Marc Lynch of The Middle East Channel Beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq and concluding with the aftermath of the 2011 Arab uprisings, Frederic M. Wehrey investigates the roots of the Shi'a-Sunni divide now dominating the Persian Gulf's political landscape. Focusing on three Gulf states affected most by sectarian tensions—Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait—Wehrey identifies the factors that have exacerbated or tempered sectarianism, including domestic political institutions, the media, clerical establishments, and the contagion effect of external regional events, such as the Iraq war, the 2006 Lebanon conflict, the Arab uprisings, and Syria's civil war. In addition to his analysis, Wehrey builds a historical narrative of Shi'a activism in the Arab Gulf since 2003, linking regional events to the development of local Shi'a strategies and attitudes toward citizenship, political reform, and transnational identity. He finds that, while the Gulf Shi'a were inspired by their coreligionists in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon, they ultimately pursued greater rights through a nonsectarian, nationalist approach. He also discovers that sectarianism in the region has largely been the product of the institutional weaknesses of Gulf states, leading to excessive alarm by entrenched Sunni elites and calculated attempts by regimes to discredit Shi'a political actors as proxies for Iran, Iraq, or Lebanese Hizballah. Wehrey conducts interviews with nearly every major Shi'a leader, opinion shaper, and activist in the Gulf Arab states, as well as prominent Sunni voices, and consults diverse Arabic-language sources.
In a provocative analysis written during the unfolding drama of 1992, Baudrillard draws on his concepts of simulation and the hyperreal to argue that the Gulf War did not take place but was a carefully scripted media event--a "virtual" war. Patton's introduction argues that Baudrillard, more than any other critic of the Gulf War, correctly identified the stakes involved in the gestation of the New World Order.